Tag Archives: politics

Back to Slough House

Posted on December 5, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Having recently read what may very well be my favorite Mick Herron novel so far, The Secret Hours, I was going to write one of Gotham Calling’s occasional pieces about spy yarns without pictures inside… Between this and catching up … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (28 October 2024)

Posted on October 28, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

First, some housekeeping: I’m still struggling to conciliate the blog with other commitments, but instead of going on yet another hiatus, I’m shifting into a biweekly rhythm, so the longer Thursday posts will now appear only every other week (the … Continue reading →

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A couple of offbeat spy novels

Posted on October 10, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

When I’m not compulsively watching spy shows on TV, spy fiction tends to occupy a sizeable portion of my reading time, so I thought I’d share a few impressions on a couple of novels that approach the genre in very … Continue reading →

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80’s-style action comics

Posted on October 3, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Predator: Concrete Jungle #2 With its foul-mouthed, sweaty badass men (and women), anti-government attitude, and casualty-heavy set pieces, the 1980s’ wave of outrageous action movies had a specific vibe that has become affectionately known in some circles as ‘absurd macho … Continue reading →

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Third Gotham Calling Manifesto

Posted on September 19, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Detective Comics #483 I started this blog a decade ago in the spirit of entertainment – for others as much as for myself. I spent much of my life reading and thinking about Batman comics, so I wanted to share … Continue reading →

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Even more Batman movies without Batman – mainstream action edition!

Posted on September 12, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Every once in a while, I like to spotlight films that, although they don’t feature the Dark Knight himself, share enough of Batman comics’ quirky vibe to be of interest for fans of that sort of stuff. This time, my … Continue reading →

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More thoughts on 21st-century spy shows: Cold War edition

Posted on May 23, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

When I wrote about the TV series Slow Horses, last month, I mentioned how one of the departures from the source novels was that the show didn’t take advantage of the potential of sleeper agents to act as metaphors for … Continue reading →

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Spotlight on Lucky Luke, 1958-1967 – part 2

Posted on May 9, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

As mentioned last week, I’ve been rereading the first decade of René Goscinny’s run on the Belgian series Lucky Luke, illustrated by Morris, and trying to figure out what made those comics work (and why they resonated so much with … Continue reading →

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Spotlight on Lucky Luke, 1958-1967 – part 1

Posted on May 2, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Once again, it’s that time of year when I revisit Eurocomics that marked my childhood, now read through older eyes, and write about some of the dimensions I missed as a kid. Today, I’ll focus on the first decade of … Continue reading →

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Some thoughts on Alex Garland’s Civil War

Posted on April 24, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Just some loose thoughts on the Civil War film… No, not the MCU one, I’m talking about the one set in a dystopia where secessionist states are fighting against the US president. Matt Zoller Seitz has summed up the initial … Continue reading →

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